Hook and eye.



(No Model.)

WITNESSES Patented Nov.-26, l90L. T. P. BUTLER.

HOOK AND EYE.

(Application filed Jan. 16, 1901.)

0/ 9 {A r INVENTOR- BY %7% M ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS PERCY BUTLER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FARQUHAR J. MACRAE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

HOQK AND EYE.

$PEGJZEICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 687,476, dated November 26, 1 901.

Application filed January 16, 1901. Serial No. 43,460. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that LTHOMAS PERCY B'UTLER, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at New York city, borough of Manhattan, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hooks and Eyes, of which the following is such a full, clear, and exact description as will enable any one skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to hooks and eyes for fastening garments, curtains, or other articles with which such devices are generally used.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a hook and eye wherein the parts are so constructed and proportioned relatively to each other that there is little liability of the eye becoming accidentally unhooked; and to this end my invention consists in the various novel and peculiar arrangements and combinations ofthe several parts of the device, all as hereinafter fully described and then pointed out in the claims. I have illustrated a type of my invention in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is an enlarged plan view of my improved hook and eye, showing the eye as engaged with the hook. Fig. 2 is a view of a section of the hook and eye, the plane of which section extends vertically and longitudinally through the center of the hook and eye. Fig. 3 is a plan View of parts of a hook and eyein which the hook is made of a single strand of wire instead of a doubled strand, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Referring to the drawings, in which like numbers of reference designate like parts throughout, 2 is the hook, and 3 is the eye which is designed to engage with the hook, and the latteris formed from a piece of cylindrical material or wire doubled on itself, with the doubled part formed into a curved eye, as at 4, and with the free ends formed into attaching-loops 5, by means of which the eye is sewed or otherwise attached to the material on which it is mounted. The hook is formed from a cylindrical piece of material or wire, which is doubled on itself, and the doubled end is bent to form the outwardly-projecting hook 6. The two strands of this doubled wire extend parallel with each other and in contact and run baekwardly from the hook part in a straight-direction, so as to form the back 7 of the hook, and each strand is then bent laterally, so as to form the curved attaching-loop 8, and is brought thence up over the back of the hook toward the bill 9 of the hook, from which it is spaced a suitable distance, and is formed into the guard 10 by bending the free end of the wire upon itself, as shown in Fig. 2. In the construction shown the free end 11 of each strand of the double wire is bent under the guard 10 and lies in contact with the back 7 of the hook and the under side of the guard and there is practically no spring in the guard, and the book 6 is also made practically with no spring to it. The space between the end of each otthe guards 10 and the bill 9 of the hook toward which they project, as measured in the direction of the small arrow at, is not less than the thickness or diameter of the engaging part 4 of the eye. This distance between these two points should be equal to or slightly greater than the diameter of the strand of the eye which is to pass between such points; but such distance should not be less than such diameter, since the object in View in this particular is to prevent the free passage of the eye in unhooking it unless the eye and the hook be presented to each other in a certain manner. In addition to having the space between the end of the bill and the guard equal to a distance not less than the thickness of the strand of the eye I construct either or both of the ends of the bill and the guard of such width, measured in the horizontalplane, as to prevent the free passage of the eye between these two points when the curved eye is presented thereto in a plane practically'parallel with the back of the hook. This may be accomplished by having the end of the bill formed on a more gradual curve than the eye or presenting points contained in an arc in the horizontal having a less curvature than that of the eye. By virtue of this construction the eye is prevented from being freely unhooked when such eye is presented in a plane practically parallel with the back of the hook to the space between the bill and the guard, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. Under .this condition, however, the eye may be disengaged from the hook by holding the eye in the ordinary Way and using slight pressure; but the pressure required is such as to prevent the accidental unhooking of the eye. By turning either the hook or the eye slightly sidewise relatively to each other, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, the eye can be freely unhooked, as its passage between the bill and the guard is then practically unobstructed. This same free unhooking may -be accomplished by tipping the eye into a plane substantially at right angles to the plane of the back of the hook.

Instead of making the hook of two strands of wire running parallel with each other, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, it may be made of a single piece of Wire, so that the bill 9 of the hook and the guard 10 assume the form shown in Fig. 3. In this construction of a single strand of wire for the hook such wire should be thicker than the wire used in the doublestrand form, as I have indicated in Fig.3. In this form I have shown the end of the bill 9 of the hook as somewhat flattened, likewise the end of the guard 10 opposite to the bill. It will be seen that while the space between the bill and the guard, as indicated by arrow (1., is not less than the thickness of the part t of the .eye, nevertheless the eye cannot be passed between the bill and the guard unless either the eye or the hook be turned sidewise or unless the eye be tipped up into vertical position. by the end of the bill 9 are contained in an are having lesser curvature than the curvature of the inside of the eye, so that with the In this form the points presented thereby prevented from catching in the ma terial with which the hook and eye may be used.

I wish to be understood as not limiting my invention to the precise construction herein shown, as various modifications may be made in the diflerent parts of the device without, however, departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a hook and eye, the combination of an eye, a hook provided with an inwardly-projecting bill, a guard standing up from the back of the hook and projecting outwardly toward the end of said bill and spaced therefrom a distance not less than the thickness or diameter of the part of said eye engaging therewith, the free end of either or both said bill and hook over which the eye passes in unhooking it being so proportioned relatively to the eye as to prevent the eye from passing freely out between such proximate points unless -either said eye or book be turned at an angle sidewise to each other, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. Ina hook and eye, the combination of an eye havinga curved part 4 for engaging the hook, a hook provided with an inwardly-projecting bill 9, a guard 10 projecting toward the end of said bill and having the space be tween the proximate surfaces thereof not less than the thickness or diameter of the part 4 ofsaid eye, the free end of the bill 9 of said hook being so proportioned relatively to the curvature of the part 4 of said eye as to prevent the eye from passing freely out between such proximate points unless either said eye or book be turned at an angle sidewise to each other, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of the two subscribingwitnesses.

THOMAS PERCY BUTLER.

\Vitnesses: WILLIS FOWLER, SAMUEL M. OHEsNUT. 

